Over the past years, ridesharing (also referred to as carpooling, car sharing and lift sharing) has become increasingly popular, largely thanks to online ridesharing platforms such as Blablacar™. Ridesharing platforms such as Blablacar™ have facilitated matching drivers offering available seats in a vehicle with passengers looking for drivers offering such available seats. The general concept is that the ridesharing platforms allow connecting drivers to passengers willing to travel together between cities and share the cost of the journey. Benefits of such approach are readily known, amongst which, without being limited to, reducing travelling costs, reducing traffic on the roads thereby lowering greenhouse gases and pollutant levels and/or creating a social experience by facilitating connections between individuals who would have otherwise not met.
Typically, an online ridesharing platform may be accessed by electronic devices via a web browser and/or an application (also referred to as an “app”). In some instances, the drivers and/or the passengers may register and create a personal online profile. The personal online profile may include ratings and reviews by other members, social network verification, etc. The personal online profile may show how much experience the user has with the service and, in some instances, a “Blabla” measurement indicating how much a user is willing to chat during a trip.
Once the drivers and/or the passengers have registered with the service, they may either publish a trip (for cases where the user is a driver offering seats) or search for a trip (for cases where the user is a passenger looking for seats). For instances where the user is a driver, the platform may require certain information to be provided. Such information may include, but is not limited to, driver departure position, driver arrival position, waypoints (also referred to as stopovers between the driver departure position and the driver arrival position), departure time and date, number of available seats, kilometric rate paid by passenger, etc. Once the information is provided, the platform may generate a route, which, in some instances, may be a realistic route. The realistic route may comprise a trajectory, duration and/or a realistic distance. The information provided by the driver and/or the route generated by the platform may be published in a searchable database and referred to as a trip or trip data.
Once a trip is published, it may then be accessed by a passenger. In some instances, the passenger may provide information to a trip search engine. The information may take the form of a rideshare request and may comprise information such as a passenger departure position, a passenger arrival position, a departure time and date, number of required seats, etc. The trip search engine may then determine which trips amongst the trips published in the trip database match at least some criteria of the rideshare request. The trip search engine may then present a list of trips meeting at least some criteria of the rideshare request to the passenger. The passenger may then select the trips that she/he deems the most appropriate and connect with the driver associated with the selected trips to complete a transaction.
Even though ridesharing platforms enabling a trip search engine has greatly improved the ridesharing experience for both the drivers and the passengers by allowing great volumes of trips to be published by drivers and searched by passengers, improvements may still be desirable.